Grist List

Here's what wind power looked like in 1951

This video of vintage wind turbines is super cool. EnergyNOW reports that the U.K. started supplementing its energy needs with wind power during World War II, then kept using wind for daily needs — like shop window lighting — after the war was over.

Climate change could cause a chocolate shortage

Chocolate lovers have two decades to consume all the Godiva they can before climate change drinks their milkshake. After that, global warming will cause production to dwindle in current cocoa-producing regions, like Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire, according to a new study by the International Center for Tropical Agriculture.

That doesn't necessarily mean that humanity will lose chocolate, though. It just might have to come from somewhere else.

Genius shopping cart gizmo helps you eat local

This shopping cart attachment lets you compare the food miles on your purchases in a way that's quick, easy to interpret, and less complicated than the self-checkout. That is cool as hell! Also, this demonstration video, which was made for a conference, is a complete hoot. (I am a sucker for a British accent, though.)

Charge your EV in 10 minutes flat

Pretty much no one wants to wait around for their theoretical EV to charge, which is one reason why people aren't buying them in droves yet. But in the near future, charging won't take more than 10 minutes, thanks to Nissan.

Along with a Japanese university, the car company developed an EV charger that takes a fraction of the time of current chargers without compromising battery life. Right now, charging an EV generally takes about eight hours, or 48 times as long as this new charger will need.

Critical List: Leaking New Zealand oil tanker could break apart; EPA to speed Great Lakes cleanup

Eeek. A huge crack has opened up in the hull of the ship leaking oil off the coast of New Zealand, and the ship could break up apart "at any point," according to Maritime New Zealand.

In the U.S., the Justice Department had to sue Transocean to force the company to answer government subpoenas related to the Macondo well spill.

Can we feed people without killing the planet? Yes, says a new study, but it’ll take money, planning, and eating less meat.

GM: Bikes will make you unattractive to ladies

Enough people thought this was a good idea that the ad made it into print. How did this ad meeting go? "We need to convince the youth to buy giant boat-cars." "Okay, tell them bikes will cockblock them." "Perfect, let's call it a day." Nice work, Don Draper. GM has clearly been getting a lot […]

Record heat will rob us of peanut butter

Start getting accustomed to nothing and jelly sandwiches, Fluffernothings, and Reese's Nothing Cups. Record temperatures and droughts are projected to drive the price of peanut butter through the roof, with wholesale costs going up by as much as 40 percent, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Doing your wash is hurting the planet, and it’s not because you’re using hot water

Sorry to have to bum y'all out, but here is a new way that we are all destroying the planet without even realizing it: by washing our clothes. And, yah, I know you wash your clothes in cold water, but I'm not talking about the energy your machines use. I'm talking about how whenever you wash clothes made of synthetic fibers, tiny bits of plastic flake off and get flushed with the wash water into the sewage system.

Disadvantaged teens build 160 MPG hybrid car

West Philadelphia High School has a dropout rate of more than 50 percent, and 85 percent of students are low-income. But instead of making trouble in their neighborhood, getting in one little fight, or even shooting some B-ball outside of the school, a team of 15 dedicated West Philly students built a badass hybrid car that gets 160 miles to the gallon. Then they entered it in a contest where it beat the pants off cars built by fancy Ivy League engineers.